Looking east from the top of the Washington Monument towards the National Mall and the United States Capitol in the summer of 1901. The Mall exhibited the Victorian-era landscape of winding paths and random plantings that Andrew Jackson Downing designed in the 1850s.

The National Mall was the centerpiece of the 1901 McMillan Plan. A central open vista traversed the length of the Mall.

In his 1791 plan for the future city of Washington, D.C., Pierre (Peter) Charles L'Enfant envisioned a garden-lined "grand avenue" approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) in length and 400 feet (120 m) wide, in an area that would lie between the Capitol building and an equestrian statue of George Washington to be placed directly south of the White House (see L'Enfant Plan).[5][6][7] The National Mall occupies the site of this planned "grand avenue", which was never constructed. The Washington Monument stands near the planned site of its namesake's equestrian statue. Mathew Carey's 1802 map is reported to be the first to name the area west of the United States Capitol as the "Mall".[8][9]

During the early 1850s, architect and horticulturist Andrew Jackson Downing designed a landscape plan for the Mall.[6][8] Over the next half century, federal agencies developed several naturalistic parks within the Mall in accordance with Downing's plan.[6][8] Two such areas were Henry Park and Seaton Park.[10] In addition, railroad tracks crossed the Mall on 6th Street, west of the Capitol.[6] Near the tracks, a large market (Central Market) and a railroad station rose on the north side of the Mall. Greenhouses belonging to the U.S. Botanic Garden appeared near the east end of the Mall.[8]

In 1901, the McMillan Commission's plan, which was partially inspired by the City Beautiful Movement and which purportedly extended L'Enfant's plan, called for a radical redesign of the Mall that would replace its greenhouses, gardens, trees, and commercial/industrial facilities with an open space.[6][8][11] The plan differed from L'Enfant's by replacing the 400 feet (120 m) wide "grand avenue" with a 300 feet (91 m) wide vista containing a long and broad expanse of grass. Four rows of American elm (Ulmus americana) trees planted fifty feet apart between two paths or streets would line each side of the vista. Buildings housing cultural and educational institutions constructed in the Beaux-Arts style would line each outer path or street, on the opposite side of the path or street from the elms.[6][8][11][12][13]

In subsequent years, the vision of the McMillan plan was generally followed with the planting of American elms and the layout of four boulevards down the Mall, two on either side of a wide lawn.[12][14][15] In accordance with a plan that it completed in 1976, the NPS converted the two innermost boulevards (Washington and Adams Drives) into gravel walking paths.[12] The two outermost boulevards (Jefferson Drive Southwest (SW) and Madison Drive Northwest (NW)) remain paved and open to vehicular traffic.[12]

Looking east from the top of the Washington Monument towards the National Mall and the United States Capitol in the summer of 2011.

On October 15, 1966, the National Mall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[20] In 1981, the NPS prepared a National Register nomination form that documented the Mall's historical significance.[5] More recently, the 108th United States Congress enacted the Commemorative Works Clarification and Revision Act of 2003, which prohibits the siting of new commemorative works and visitor centers in a designated reserve area within the cross-axis of the Mall.[3][21]

In October 2013, a two-week federal government shutdown closed the National Mall and its museums and monuments.[24] However, when a group of elderly veterans tried to enter the National World War II Memorial during the shutdown's first day, the memorial's barricades were removed.[25] The NPS subsequently announced that the veterans had a legal right to be in the memorial and would not be barred in the future.[26] During the shutdown's second week, the NPS permitted a controversial immigration rally and concert to take place on the Mall.[27]

However, other NPS documents have more recently described the Mall's area as "the grounds of the U.S. Capitol west to the Potomac River, and from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial north to Constitution Avenue".[3][29] An NPS planning map entitled "National Mall Areas" illustrates "The Mall" as being the green space bounded on the east by 3rd Street, on the west by 14th Street, on the north by Jefferson Drive, NW, and on the south by Madison Drive, SW.[30] A Central Intelligence Agency map shows the Mall as occupying the space between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol.[31]

The National Park Service states that the purposes of the National Mall are to:

Provide a monumental, dignified, and symbolic setting for the governmental structures, museums and national memorials as first delineated by the L'Enfant plan and further outlined in the McMillan plan.

Maintain and provide for the use of the National Mall with its public promenades as a completed work of civic art, a designed historic landscape providing extraordinary vistas to symbols of the nation.

Maintain National Mall commemorative works (memorials, monuments, statues, sites, gardens) that honor presidential legacies, distinguished public figures, ideas, events, and military and civilian sacrifices and contributions.

Forever retain the West Potomac Park section of the National Mall as a public park for recreation and enjoyment of the people.

Maintain the National Mall in the heart of the nation's capital as a stage for national events and a preeminent national civic space for public gatherings because it is here that the constitutional rights of speech and peaceful assembly find their fullest expression.

Maintain the National Mall as an area free of commercial advertising while retaining the ability to recognize sponsors.[3]

West end of National Mall, showing Lincoln Memorial (#1 on image), Vietnam Veterans Memorial (#2 on image), Constitution Gardens (above the Reflecting Pool) and construction site for the World War II Memorial (#3 on image). The Washington Monument (#1 on image below) is to the right of the construction site. Below the Reflecting Pool (outside of the image) are the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the District of Columbia War Memorial. Below the Lincoln Memorial (outside of the image) is the John Ericsson National Memorial [32]

National Mall (proper). The Mall had a grassy lawn flanked on each side by unpaved paths as its central feature. (Numbers in image correspond to numbers in list of landmarks, museums and other features below.)[33]

2004 view from the United States Capitol, facing west across the National Mall

Facing east on the National Mall, as viewed near the 1300 block of Jefferson Drive, S.W. in April 2010. Rows of American elm trees line the sides of a path traversing the length of the Mall.

Victory Garden at the National Museum of American History[45]
Heirloom Garden at the National Museum of American History, Behring Center[46]
Native Landscape at the National Museum of the American Indian[47]
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden[48]

The broader area of the National Mall includes numerous other landmarks and features.

The Smithsonian Institution is constructing the National Museum of African American History and Culture on a 5 acres (2.0 ha) site between the grounds of the Washington Monument and the National Museum of American History. The boundaries of the museum site are Constitution Avenue on the north, Madison Drive on the south, 14th Street NW on the east, and 15th Street NW on the west.[53] The museum's groundbreaking ceremony took place on February 22, 2012.[54]

The population of American elm trees planted on the Mall and its surrounding areas in accordance with the McMillan Plan has remained intact for the past 70 years because of disease management and immediate tree replacement. Dutch elm disease (DED) first appeared on the Mall during the 1950s and reached a peak in the 1970s. The NPS has used a number of methods to control this fungal epidemic, including sanitation, pruning, injecting trees with fungicide, replanting with DED-resistant American elm cultivars and combatting the disease's local insect vector, the smaller European elm bark beetle (Scolytus multistriatus), by trapping and by spraying with insecticides. Soil compaction and root damage by crowds and construction projects also adversely affect the elms.[55]

The National Mall, in combination with the other attractions in the Washington Metropolitan Area, makes the nation's capital city one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country. However, it has uses other than as a tourist focal point.

During presidential inaugurations, people without official tickets gather at the National Mall. Normally, the Mall between 7th and 14th Streets NW is used as a staging ground for the parade.[61] On December 4, 2008, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (see United States presidential inauguration#Organizers) announced that "for the first time, the entire length of the National Mall will be opened to the public so that more people than ever before will be able to witness the swearing-in of the President from a vantage point in sight of the Capitol."[62] The Committee made this arrangement because of the massive attendance – projected to be as many as 2 million people – that it expected for the first inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. Despite the arrangement, a throng of people seeking access to the event climbed and then removed temporary protective fences around the Smithsonian's Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, six blocks from the site at which Obama took his inaugural oath. Hordes then trampled the garden's vegetation and elevated plant beds when entering and leaving the event.[63] Others could not find a way to enter the Mall in time to view the ceremony. More than a thousand people with tickets missed the event while being stranded in the I-395 Third Street Tunnel beneath the Mall after police directed them there (see Purple Tunnel of Doom).[64] The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies subsequently announced that ticket holders that were not admitted would receive copies of the swearing-in invitation and program, photos of Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and a color print of the ceremony.[65]

The National Mall has long served as a spot for jogging, picnics, and light recreation for the Washington population. The Smithsonian Carousel, located on the Mall in front of the Arts and Industry Building, is a popular attraction that operates seasonally.[66] The carousel was built by the Allan Herschell Company and arrived at Gwynn Oak Park near Baltimore, Maryland, in 1947. It was moved to the Mall in 1981.[38][39][67]

Independence Day fireworks display between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, July 4, 1986

A number of large free events recur annually on the Mall.[68] A kite festival, formerly named the "Smithsonian Kite Festival" and now named the "Blossom Kite Festival", usually takes place each year on the Washington Monument grounds during the last weekend of March as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The 2015 kite festival will take place on the grounds of the Washington Monunument on March 28.[69]

Components of the United States Navy Band, the United States Air Force Band, the United States Marine Band and the United States Army Band perform on the west steps of the United States Capitol on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, respectively, during June, July and August.[78][79] The Marine Band repeats each Wednesday Capitol performance on the following evening (Thursday) at the Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument.[79] Components of U.S. military bands also provide evening concerts at the World War II Memorial from May through August.[80]

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival takes place on the Mall each year for two weeks around Independence Day (July 4).[81] On that holiday, the A Capitol Fourth concert takes place in the late afternoon and early evening on the west lawn of the Capitol.[82] This and other Independence Day celebrations on and near the Mall end after sunset with a fireworks display between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.[83] On Monday nights during July and August, the annual Screen on the Green movie festival takes place on the Mall between 4th and 7th Streets.[84] The free classic movies are projected on large portable screens and typically draw crowds of thousands of people.

The National Symphony Orchestra presents each year its Labor Day Capitol Concert on the west lawn of the United States Capitol during the evening of the Sunday before Labor Day (the first Monday of September).[85]

The 1939 concert by Marian Anderson, facing east from the Lincoln Memorial

During the ensuing uproar, Rob Grill, lead singer of The Grass Roots, stated that he felt "highly insulted" by Watt's remarks, which he called "nothing but un-American".[90] The Beach Boys stated that the Soviet Union, which had invited them to perform in Leningrad in 1978, "obviously .... did not feel that the group attracted the wrong element".[90]Vice PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush said of The Beach Boys, "They're my friends and I like their music".[90] On July 3, 1983, thousands attended a heavily-policed "Rock Against Reagan" concert that the hardcore punk rock band, Dead Kennedys, performed on the Mall in response to Watt's action.[92] When Newton entered an Independence Day stage on the Mall on July 4, members of his audience booed.[93][94] Watt apologized to The Beach Boys, First LadyNancy Reagan apologized for Watt, and in 1984 The Beach Boys gave an Independence Day concert on the Mall to an audience of 750,000 people.[93][95]

Britney Spears performs during the "NFL Kickoff Live from the National Mall Presented by Pepsi Vanilla" concert, September 4, 2003.

Occurring once every two to three years on the Mall in the early fall from 2002 to 2009,[99] the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon displayed solar-powered houses that competitive collegiate teams designed, constructed and operated.[100][101] Igniting a controversy, the Department of Energy (DOE) decided to move the 2011 Decathlon off the Mall, claiming that this would support an effort to protect, improve and restore the park.[102] Federal officials stated that heavy equipment that had placed two-story houses on the Mall during earlier Decathlons had cracked walkways and killed grass to a greater extent than had most other Mall events.[103] On February 4, 2011, a Washington Post editorial criticized attempts to have President Obama restore the event to the Mall.[104] Nevertheless, by February 12, 2011, at least thirteen U.S. Senators had signed a letter asking the DOE to reconsider its decision.[103] On February 23, 2011, the DOE and the Department of the Interior announced that the 2011 Solar Decathlon would take place along Ohio Drive southeast of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in West Potomac Park.[105] The event took place in the Park from September 23 through October 2, 2011.[101][106] The 2013 Solar Decathlon took place in California instead of Washington.[107]

A four-day exhibition took place each year on the Mall during Public Service Recognition Week (the first full week of May) until 2010. Government agencies participating in the event sponsored exhibits that displayed the works of public employees and that enabled visitors to learn about government programs and initiatives, discuss employee benefits, and interact with agency representatives.[110] However, the 2011 United States federal budget (Public Law 112-10), which was belatedly enacted on April 15, 2011, contained no funding for that year's event, forcing the event's cancellation.[111] The event did not take place in 2012.[112]

Concert for Valor on the National Mall, November 11, 2014, looking west from the United States Capitol grounds.

The inaugural USA Science and Engineering Festival Expo took place on the National Mall and surrounding areas on October 23 and 24, 2010. More than 1,500 free interactive exhibits reportedly drew about 500,000 people to the event,[115] which had over 75 performances.[116] The second Expo took place on April 28–29, 2012, in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.[117]

From 2006 through 2010, the NPS conducted a public process that created a plan for the future of the National Mall.[29][119] On July 13, 2010, the NPS issued in the Federal Register a notice of availability of a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the National Mall Plan.[120] The two-volume final EIS responded to comments and incorporated changes to a draft EIS for the Plan.[121] On November 9, 2010, the NPS and the Department of the Interior issued a Record of Decision (ROD) that completed the planning process.[119][122][123][124] The ROD contains a summary of the selected alternative, which is the basis for the Plan, together with mitigation measures developed to minimize environmental harm; other alternatives considered; the basis for the decision in terms of planning objectives and the criteria used to develop the preferred alternative; a finding of no impairment of park resources and values; the environmentally preferable alternative; and the public and agency involvement.[125]

The Plan proposed a number of changes to the Mall. The NPS would construct at the east end of the Mall a wide expanse of paved surface in Union Square to accommodate demonstrations and other events by reducing the size of the Capitol Reflecting Pool or by replacing the pool with a fountain or other small water feature. Additional proposed changes included the replacement of the Sylvan Theater on the Washington Monument grounds with a facility containing offices, restaurants and restrooms.[29][122][123][124]

On December 2, 2010, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) unanimously approved the final National Mall Plan at a public hearing.[126] The NCPC's approval allowed the NPS to move forward with implementation of the Plan's recommendations.[119][124][125][126] On March 1, 2012, the NCPC discussed a proposal that would decrease the Mall's existing green space by widening and paving most of the north-south walkways that cross the Mall between Seventh and Fourteenth Streets and by replacing with gravel large areas of grass that are located near the Smithsonian Metro Station and the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden.[127]

On September 8, 2011, the Trust for the National Mall[128] and the NPS announced an open competition for a redesign of the spaces on the National Mall that Union Square, the Sylvan Theater grounds and the Constitution Gardens lake now occupy.[129] Former First Lady of the United StatesLaura Bush agreed to be the honorary co-chair of a drive to raise funds for the three projects.[129]

On April 9, 2012, the Trust for the National Mall announced the ideas for the redesign of Union Square, the Sylvan Theater grounds and Constitution Gardens lake area that finalists in the competition had submitted. The Trust asked the public to submit online comments that the competition jury would consider when evaluating each design.[130] The Trust announced the winners of the competition on May 2, 2012. Groundbreaking for the first project was expected to take place by 2014, with the first ribbon-cutting ceremony by 2016.[131]

The NPS provides parking facilities for bicycles near each of the major memorials as well as along the National Mall.[136] From March to October, an NPS concessionaire rents out bicycles at the Thompson Boat Center, located near the intersection of Virginia Avenue NW and Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the Lincoln Memorial along the Potomac River-Rock Creek Trail.[136][137] The first two of five approved Capital Bikeshare stations opened on the National Mall on March 16, 2012, shortly before the start of the 2012 National Cherry Blossom Festival.[138]

The National Park Service licenses pedicab drivers to provide transportation and tours of the National Mall through its Commercial Use Authorization program. There are 10 pedicab stands on the National Mall located in front of major Smithsonian museums and the national memorials.

General visitor parking is available along Ohio Drive SW, between the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials. Bus parking is available primarily along Ohio Drive, SW, near the Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorials and along Ohio Drive SW, in East Potomac Park. There is limited handicapped parking at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt and World War II Memorials and near the Washington Monument and the Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln, Korean War Veterans, and Vietnam Veterans Memorials; otherwise, parking is extremely scarce in and near the Mall.[139]

^"Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2012". Public Law 112-74, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012. United States Government Printing Office. 2011-12-23. p. 125 STAT. 1129. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
TRANSFER TO ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL
Sec. 1202. (a) Transfer.—To the extent that the Director of the National Park Service has jurisdiction and control over any portion of the area described in subsection (b) and any monument or other facility which is located within such area, such jurisdiction and control is hereby transferred to the Architect of the Capitol as of the date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Area Described.—The area described in this subsection is the property which is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, on the east by First Street Northwest and First Street Southwest, on the south by Maryland Avenue Southwest, and on the west by Third Street Southwest and Third Street Northwest.

^(1) Smith, R.J. (2000-02-01). "Punk Rock On Trial". Dead Kennedys News. Archived from the original on 2002-10-22. Retrieved 2015-03-04. It was surely the biggest show of Dead Kennedys' career, and Ronald Reagan made it all possible. In 1983, one of his cabinet members canceled a fourth of July Beach Boys concert on federal grounds in Washington, D.C., fearing the band would bring the wrong element to the capital. The move looked like crackbrained politics on every level -- the administration appeared painfully out of touch (banning the Beach Boys?), and the official who canned the show didn't even realize that the band was publicly down with the Reagans.
This was political theater of the absurd, and it was therefore a place where Dead Kennedys felt exceedingly at home. The San Francisco foursome took action, putting together a punk-rock festival on the Mall, the expanse of lawn stretching between the Washington Monument and the Capitol building. They were goading the government to try to stop them. Instead, thousands of punks filled the grounds that day, and skinny DKs frontman Jello Biafra greeted them by comparing the Monument to a giant hooded Klansman. As he jumped around like an insane marionette to their ornery punkability, government helicopters hovered over the stage and D.C. cops nervously patrolled the edge of the throng.
(2) "1983-07-03 - Rock Against Reagan, National Mall, Washington, DC". Dead Kennedys Concert Guide. Google. Archived from the original on 2011-02-23. Retrieved 2015-03-04.
(3) Richards, Chris (2011-04-08). "Dave Grohl, glancing back, blasting forward". Click Track: The Washington Post Pop Music Blog (The Washington Post). Retrieved 2015-03-04. On a family trip to Illinois in summer 1983, Grohl’s older cousin switched him on to punk rock — something that really clicked back home in July at a Dead Kennedys show on the National Mall. “There were cops on horses beating the [expletive] out of people. There were police helicopters.

^(1) "Message concerning passage of Senate amendment to HR2691, 108th United States Congress". National Coalition to Save Our Mall Inc. 2003-09-24. Archived from the original on 2012-12-29. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
(2) "Sec. 145". Public Law 108-108: Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004 (pdf)|format= requires |url= (help). Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 2003-11-10. pp. 117 Stat. 1280 – 117 Stat. 1281. Retrieved 2012-12-29. SEC. 145. None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this or any other Act, hereafter enacted, may be used to permit the use of the National Mall for a special event, unless the permit expressly prohibits the erection, placement, or use of structures and signs bearing commercial advertising. The Secretary may allow for recognition of sponsors of special events: Provided, That the size and form of the recognition shall be consistent with the special nature and sanctity of the Mall and any lettering or design identifying the sponsor shall be no larger than one-third the size of the lettering or design identifying the special event. In approving special events, the Secretary shall ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that public use of, and access to the Mall is not restricted. For purposes of this section, the term ‘‘special event’’ shall have the meaning given to it by section 7.96(g)(1)(ii) of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations.